UK XI: Please Sir... May I Have Some More?

[fishbowlhead]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b2601932.html
Liz Truss was planning to scrap NHS cancer treatments during her brief stint as prime minister.

I mean it would repair the economy all right, by simply removing 1/3 of the population, easy peasy.


edit. also this doesn't shock me one bit, I'm surprised the little cockroach didn't have a plan to invade Poland as well .

[Anpanman]

They may hate each other, but they love that money. The dates also effectively confirm they're at Glastonbury 2025 as well

They certainly do, despite what they say about no TV there will be an official VHS/Betamax released at some point.

As far as “things will get worse before they get better” is just crap, they will get worse and stay worse, then get even worse for 90% of the population.

Inflation has been allowed to run rampant, and big companies have just used this as an excuse to rake in more profits, utilities especially.

Once they go up (and they continue to do so) they never go down again.

Was thinking the exact same thing, news was speculating about inheritance and council tax. With inheritance they could reduce it at some point in the future but no way is council tax reducing.
Plus, no timeline on what short term pain means. I assume they'll pull what the last lot did and give us some old rope about certain targets being met.

Politicians eh. ***** the lot of em.

[fishbowlhead]

It’s going to get to the stage where Labour scalp everything that’s legit to balance the books again, be it jobs, running a business, will become completely not worth the hassle, and everyone gives up (but not the mega rich of course, they just up sticks and F off somewhere).

Then next election everyone wants change as no one’s got any money, businesses go bust left and right etc etc, and the Tories/Cons are back in off the back of a pack of lies, then we’re back to the start line.

Online business tax at 2% is next up, which will go up and up and up until they kill online businesses like they have done the high street.

They just haven’t got a f*****g clue on how to manage literally anything at all, nothing.

[QualityChimp]

IMHO, I'd rather have a bit of honesty than platitudes that everything is fine, which is what happened with the last government.
I think it's sensible to front-load the UK's problems as Labour's tenure begins, so they can relay that there are a lot of problems they've inherited from the Tories, rather than a year down the line and still blaming them. Literally, after Starmer said "we're fixing 14 years of Tory rot", the Conservative chairman said "He's being unfair and forgetting the coronavirus pandemic and the invasion of the Ukraine", and I fully expected him to wave that sheet of paper saying "there's no money left". It gets old, fast.

Don't get me wrong, It's great that Labour have cancelled Sunak's £40m helicopter taxi contract, but there's not an endless list of things like that to cull.

The Daily Mail headline for the cut to pensioners' fuel allowance is they're going to make Beryl freeze, but in reality, it's only OAPs in the upper income bracket that it's being cut from. Saw one bloke moaning about it online and it took two minutes to look at his other posts talking about his second home abroad and pics of his expensive motorbike.

In his speech, Starmer repeated his election promise that national insurance, VAT and income tax would not go up, but Rachel Reeves suggested in an earlier speech that she would have to increase taxes in the Budget and did not rule out increasing inheritance tax, capital gains tax, or reforming tax relief on pensions.

I'm curious, what suggestions do people have to help fix the £22bn gap in public finances?

[Dogg Thang]

I'm curious, what suggestions do people have to help fix the £22bn gap in public finances?

A raffle. Pub quiz. Whip round.

[Brad]

My father in law is loaded and used to complain that the Tories gave him a fuel allowance he didn't need every year. He used to just give it to charity each time. He's glad labour are doing it more sensibly.

[Nu-Eclipse]

IMHO, I'd rather have a bit of honesty than platitudes that everything is fine, which is what happened with the last government.
I think it's sensible to front-load the UK's problems as Labour's tenure begins, so they can relay that there are a lot of problems they've inherited from the Tories, rather than a year down the line and still blaming them. Literally, after Starmer said "we're fixing 14 years of Tory rot", the Conservative chairman said "He's being unfair and forgetting the coronavirus pandemic and the invasion of the Ukraine", and I fully expected him to wave that sheet of paper saying "there's no money left". It gets old, fast.

The thing is though, Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer knew full well about the financial shortfall well before they took power, as did most of the media who reported it. This isn't news. Repeating the mantra of it not being their fault isn't going to wash for long. It will get tiresome quickly for an electorate desperate for change and who only gave Labour power because they'd had enough of the last fourteen years of Tory rule, not because they actually wanted Starmer.

Also, they'll likely keep finding considerable resources to give to Netanyahu and Zelenskyy. How the hell can that be justified??

I'm curious, what suggestions do people have to help fix the £22bn gap in public finances?

Properly tax the wealthiest.

Rejoin the Customs Union / Rejoin the EU.

These issues can't possibly be avoided for much longer, not if Starmer wants to stay in power for more than one term. If Labour are ousted at the next GE it will likely be longer than 14 years before they get power again.

[QualityChimp]

Properly taxing the rich is something your average person will support, but there seems to be an element where people think they're also at risk, not realising the type of inheritance tax that matters won't affect someone inheriting a terraced house from their nan.

Starmer is in Germany today, trying to "turn the corner of Brexit". "Downing Street said the agreement would cover areas such as energy security, technology, defence and illegal migration. It added it would also cover access to each other's markets and trade across the North Sea." (BBC News)

The Ukraine is a tricky one. We are sending billions in support, but what happens if we and other countries take away support?
Firstly, it just shows that Russia can invade where they like. Neighbouring Belarus and Moldova aren't in NATO, so he could probably take them too.
After that, you're into NATO countries like Poland. That'd be another World War.

"Russia is already conscripting large numbers of men in occupied regions of Ukraine and using them as cannon fodder in brutal human wave offensives. If Ukraine falls, hundreds of thousands more would be forced to join the Russian military and deployed in similar fashion. As well as extra manpower, a conquered Ukraine would also provide Russia with vast natural resources, industrial strength, and agricultural wealth. Indeed, the occupation of Ukraine would allow Russia to dominate global agricultural markets.

The stakes could hardly be higher. If Russia’s invasion succeeds, the consequences will be felt far beyond the borders of Ukraine. The Russian military will be revitalized by the capture of Ukraine’s vast human and material resources, and will loom large on the eastern border of a NATO alliance demoralized and discredited by its failure to defend Ukrainian independence. At that point, many in the West may begin to ask why they didn’t arm Ukraine when they had the chance. By then, of course, it will be too late."

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russian-victory-in-ukraine-would-leave-europe-at-putins-mercy/

[fishbowlhead]

[I'm curious, what suggestions do people have to help fix the £22bn gap in public finances?

-HS2 there you go, that’s the whole amount with change to spare.

-Every single project linked to MP’s or their associates/family, would be investigated top to bottom.

-Every single MP or their associates/family that stole from the PPE scandal would be arrested instantly with no trial, as long as there’s evidence, and forced to repay every penny with interest. They would also be banned from politics for life & owning or being on the board of any company. Their only job opportunity’s would be min wage jobs with no pay rises above min wage ever, this would be enforced until the day they die.

-Re join the EU.




That should cover it for a bit.

[Protocol Penguin]

Mark my words, if Starmer gets a second term, it’ll be because the Tories go full MAGA (well, MBGA), as in more weird and unelectable than William Hague’s lot ever were.

To me Labour seems to be the worst bits of both ‘80s Labour and New Labour; rabidly anti-European and controlling, but also neoliberal and penny-pinching.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Properly taxing the rich is something your average person will support, but there seems to be an element where people think they're also at risk, not realising the type of inheritance tax that matters won't affect someone inheriting a terraced house from their nan.

Surely it's up to this Labour Government to actually show and prove to working people that it is the wealthiest who will be properly taxed?

Starmer is in Germany today, trying to "turn the corner of Brexit". "Downing Street said the agreement would cover areas such as energy security, technology, defence and illegal migration. It added it would also cover access to each other's markets and trade across the North Sea." (BBC News)

Word salad from Downing Street and you know it. Starmer has been pig-headed about not budging on Brexit long before he took power. This is perfomative at best.

The Ukraine is a tricky one. We are sending billions in support, but what happens if we and other countries take away support?
Firstly, it just shows that Russia can invade where they like. Neighbouring Belarus and Moldova aren't in NATO, so he could probably take them too.
After that, you're into NATO countries like Poland. That'd be another World War.

"Russia is already conscripting large numbers of men in occupied regions of Ukraine and using them as cannon fodder in brutal human wave offensives. If Ukraine falls, hundreds of thousands more would be forced to join the Russian military and deployed in similar fashion. As well as extra manpower, a conquered Ukraine would also provide Russia with vast natural resources, industrial strength, and agricultural wealth. Indeed, the occupation of Ukraine would allow Russia to dominate global agricultural markets.

The stakes could hardly be higher. If Russia’s invasion succeeds, the consequences will be felt far beyond the borders of Ukraine. The Russian military will be revitalized by the capture of Ukraine’s vast human and material resources, and will loom large on the eastern border of a NATO alliance demoralized and discredited by its failure to defend Ukrainian independence. At that point, many in the West may begin to ask why they didn’t arm Ukraine when they had the chance. By then, of course, it will be too late."
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blog...-putins-mercy/

It's hard to disagree with your points in general, but be all of that as it may, this shows that the fact still stands that the money is clearly there to lift the two child benefit cap and make the other REAL changes that people are desperate to see after fourteen years of blue austerity.

I obviously don't want a potential third World War and I don't want Putin left unchecked, but surely the hardest hit in the UK now have to be the priority? They simply have to be. Massively funding Ukraine and Israel while pleading poverty at home is now terrible optics at this point, right or wrong.

Labour have one shot to get this right and red austerity simply isn't the answer. There will be a rude Faragian awakening down the road if Starmer and Reeves think it is.

[Mayhem]

It's now come out that the Tories were borrowing £5 billion a quarter more than the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) knew about. More than was documented. Hidden, intentionally. Until Labour discovered it upon entering Number 10. And there is your black hole in the UK finances.

[Nu-Eclipse]

It's now come out that the Tories were borrowing £5 billion a quarter more than the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) knew about. More than was documented. Hidden, intentionally. Until Labour discovered it upon entering Number 10. And there is your black hole in the UK finances.

Some might argue that this is awfully convenient for the current narrative.

Fact still stands that there is money available and that there doesn't have to be red austerity.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/29/smoking-could-be-banned-uk-pub-gardens-outdoor-restaurants

[Brad]

Some might argue that this is awfully convenient for the current narrative.

Fact still stands that there is money available and that there doesn't have to be red austerity.

That was pretty dismissive of you. You don't dismiss £5billion a quarter. People need to be imprisoned for ****ing up the lives of the general population and hiding it. Where has all the money gone? There should be hundreds of enquiries at this point and charges being brought if those figures are correct.